I was born December 1, 1905. The first place I remember living in is the log cabin on the farm Dad bought from the Udvig's. I remember when Ted was born. Dr. Johnson came out from Bottineau in a sleigh. Ozzie and I were put into the bedroom until it was over, then we were brought out to see the baby. Dr. Johnson said he would take Ozzie in trade, but I told him he could have the baby instead. Years later I was told that the Dr. charged $8.00 for the house call, $1.00 per mile one way.
Because of the crowded conditions at home I was living with the John Holum family in the Turtle Mountains. John Holum was a sister to Oles wife Anna. I had to go back home because the Holum's were moving to Montana. They loaded the horses, machinery, and cattle on the freight train and went to Wolf Point where they settled. The Holum family were Amanda, Laurence and Edwin.
After the harvest in 1924, Ozzie and I got a ride with two harvest hands. We were going to Minneapolis but we stopped off in Duluth to visit Aunt Mabel, dads youngest sister. That was as far as we got. Ozzie eventually went back to the farm. He bought a truck and went home.
I got a job in a grocery store. Uncle Albert, who was about my age, arrived sometime later. He had a Model T Ford car and we started taking our girls, Lillian and Effie, out on double dates. It wasn't long before Effie and I were left out when things got serious with Albert and Lil. Shortly after they were married.
One year later on July 14, 1928, Effie and I were married. We had been planning to get married on Friday, the 13th. We drove to Minneapolis that day but we had forgotten to get a license so we went back and got married on Saturday.
In 1937 I purchased my own grocery store. Sid and LeRoy worked for awhile but there was not enough money to support us all so Vi and LeRoy went to Seattle and Sid went to work in the shipyards. Sid made twice as much in the shipyards as I could in the store so I sold the store and joined Sid in the Shipyards. We stayed there through World War 11.
In 1945 we adopted a boy, David. He lived for 26 years and died from kidney failure. He was married to Faith and they had a daughter, Eve called Tosh. Tosh lives with her mother in Ely, Minnesota. Effie passed away January 31, 1985. In July, 1978 we celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary at the Turtle Mountain Lutheran Church near Carbury, North Dakota. Vernon recalled how much our Christmas presents were so important to them when they were kids. During the 1930's a few weeks before Christmas I would gather a few children's toys from the store and send to the farm. Vernon said they would wait and wonder if a box or two would come and sure enough it would arrive on Christmas eve or the day before.
Alfred never did retire. He operated an appliance and TV business until he sold that and went into real estate. He was putting to gather yet another sale when he collapsed from a stroke. He spent a couple months in a nursing home before he died on November 6, 1991.